Young, energetic and talented – if you were in
your teens or 20s and had these qualities would you consider a career in the
arts?
Chris Jones, who has a many roles in the arts locally, including Dumfries & Galloway Voluntary Arts Ambassador, recently led a trip up to Edinburgh with more than a dozen young people who are in the process of planning their futures.
The visit was part of the Fresh Start Youth Arts Learning Journeys initiative, which awarded a series of grants for projects across the region with the aim of nurturing new talent.
In this case the young people involved are all members of the Langholm-based Centre Stage Youth Theatre, which Chris helps run.
The theatre is currently planning a production of its own to commemorate the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War.
With Fresh Start’s help they are pushing this project forward, and also getting the chance to meet and talk to practitioners who can tell them all about the realities of working in the arts.
Chris Jones, who has a many roles in the arts locally, including Dumfries & Galloway Voluntary Arts Ambassador, recently led a trip up to Edinburgh with more than a dozen young people who are in the process of planning their futures.
The visit was part of the Fresh Start Youth Arts Learning Journeys initiative, which awarded a series of grants for projects across the region with the aim of nurturing new talent.
In this case the young people involved are all members of the Langholm-based Centre Stage Youth Theatre, which Chris helps run.
The theatre is currently planning a production of its own to commemorate the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War.
With Fresh Start’s help they are pushing this project forward, and also getting the chance to meet and talk to practitioners who can tell them all about the realities of working in the arts.
A high point of the Edinburgh visit was the
chance to see The Trench, an acclaimed work about World War I, and then to
meet and talk to its director and producer James Seager.
This meshed very well with Centre Stage’s plans to create a play to inspired by archive material, music and social history of the period – a time when the largest munitions factory ever built was sited near Gretna and employed thousands of local people, mainly young women, worked there as a core part of the war effort.
Even better is that young videographer Sam Hampson, a member of the theatre group, has created a film of their time in Edinburgh, including the interview with James.
This meshed very well with Centre Stage’s plans to create a play to inspired by archive material, music and social history of the period – a time when the largest munitions factory ever built was sited near Gretna and employed thousands of local people, mainly young women, worked there as a core part of the war effort.
Even better is that young videographer Sam Hampson, a member of the theatre group, has created a film of their time in Edinburgh, including the interview with James.
 |
| video by Sam Hampson of the Edinburgh visit |
You can see it by visiting Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEEWPNvy-RM
Also –
just a reminder that there will be a meeting to at the Mill on the Fleet,
Gatehouse of Fleet on Thursday, September 5th, at 1.30pm, where
Fresh Start project manager Kathleen O’Neill will give a presentation on ‘the future
role and value of a Regional Arts Hub’
This meeting aims to bring together as many people
as possible who have contributed time to Regional Arts Hub meetings in the
past, and offers a wider opportunity for anybody concerned with regional arts
issues to come along: It is intentionally scheduled for Gatehouse of
Fleet, as an ongoing concern has been that too many gatherings of regional
concern take place in Dumfries.
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